Waggin' Tales Pet Blog

Is your dog a digger? Many are, and they dig for different reasons. If you have a flower or vegetable garden, or certain shrubs and plants you don’t want excavated by your canine friend, learning the “whys” a dog digs and “how” to protect your veggies, flowers, herbs and shrubs will go a long way to help you and your pooch come to a compromise in the digging department.

Your pup is bored. Is your dog not getting enough exercise? Are you leaving him/her alone too much and s/he craves attention?

To cool off. The underlying layers of soil are cooler, so your pet may be seeking relief from heat and/or humidity.

Seeking a mate. If your dog is not spayed/neutered, s/he may dig to escape and seek a mate.

Saving for another day. Dogs will dig to bury a bone or treat, saving it for another time.

For fun. For some dogs, digging is a fun and a way to relief stress and anxiety, according to the American Kennel Club.

What do you do with a digger? If your dog wants to/likes to dig, here are a few ideas by which a compromise can be established:

Allow one place in your yard where it’s okay to dig. Teach your pet with treats and praise that a particular spot is all right for digging.

Place products that deter digging in areas you don’t want your dog to excavate. Use things like pepper or ammonia to repel your dog from the areas that off-limits to his/her unearthing.

If your dog is trying to escape, bury chicken wire under the fence to help confine your friend to its own yard. You might also try using rocks to plug any gaps between the fence and ground.

Keep in mind some breeds are prone to digging because of heritage. Terriers, for example, were used to control vermin, and not just mice, but other creatures, like badgers (which are natural diggers). The dogs were trained to go after these underground wild animals, and therefore, trained to tunnel for them. This is an inherited behavior and cannot readily be changed.

Several of the dogs I’ve had were/are diggers, including my blind springer spaniel, Sage. She dug a hole near the foundation of the house we lived in as a cool spot. Even though we had shrubbery and a tall cottonwood tree in the back yard, she chose to create a large hole in the dirt next to the house. I believe she dug it in this location also because it was close to the patio, and therefore, helped her navigate the yard and the house’s back entrance – she used the hole and other textures (like the brick of the patio) as locators since she couldn’t see.

Mary, our springer/cocker mix, digs holes near trees at our mountain property. The holes she creates are not large, like Sage’s was (but Sage only dug the one hole in the backyard; Mary creates several at the forest-laden property). Mary also digs for coolness, and she chooses locations in the shade of the pine trees.As hunting breeds, springer spaniels, Sage and Mary might also have that heritage of digging, at least regarding cooling off, as a trait of their lineage is going the distance with the hunter. Again, this is an inherited trait, and so we haven’t tried to change it. In such cases, the best a person can do is (1) accept it and (2) try to teach the dog where it can and cannot dig. If there’s an outlet given, your dog (whether hound, terrier, spaniel or other hunting/digging breeds) will likely dig where appropriate – you just need to patiently train it.